The basic thesis – the unpopular people are popular now – is a little esoteric but by the fourth episode they’ve moved away from the movie altogether and it’s actually really good. Veronica goes with Chandler to a frat party, where she refuses to have sex with one member, unlike Chandler, who was coerced to perform oral sex. Martha, a large girl who is a frequent target of bullying, attempts to kill herself by walking into traffic. blackmails Duke into getting every student to sign a petition that, unbeknownst to her, is intended to act as a mass suicide note.

It was released again on LaserDisc on September 16, 1996, as a widescreen edition digitally transferred from Trans Atlantic Entertainment's interpositive print under the supervision of cinematographer Francis Kenny. That’s still marginally milder than the alternate ending in which the entire school blows up and they all go to prom, as social equals, in heaven. Duke uses the attention surrounding Chandler's death to gain popularity, becoming the clique's new leader.I know a lot of people wanted it to be the off-Broadway production, but I actually think the design and direction of the West End version is much stronger. Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty) is played by Brendan Scannell, who identifies as genderqueer and Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) is now played by Melanie Field – a plus-sized actress.

While conceding its ability to provoke thought and shock, Ebert questioned how the mixed sensibility as a dark murder comedy and "cynical morality play" led to difficulty in understanding its point of view, while remarking that, "Adulthood could be defined as the process of learning to be shocked by things that do not shock teenagers, but that is not a notion that has occurred to Lehmann.

The accents are predictably wonky, but I didn't find it too distracting, and I think it actually kind of adds to the campy charm. Ryder's agent was so opposed to her pursuing the role that she got down on her hands and knees to beg Ryder not to take it, warning her that it would ruin her career. The site's critical consensus reads: "Dark, cynical, and subversive, Heathers gently applies a chainsaw to the conventions of the high school movie—changing the game for teen comedies to follow.

Simon Gordon leans much more into the sad/ sympathetic side of JD, which I think might turn off fans of the original film, but he grew on me pretty quickly. You look at it now and that historical meta-kabuki mesh of Nicholson and Slater makes the film work. Academics have likened Heathers to other films popular during the 1980s and early 1990s which characterized domestic youth narratives as part and parcel of the " culture war". As students and faculty rush to see what happened, Veronica walks back inside, disheveled from the explosion. D., Melanie Field as Heather Chandler, Brendan Scannell as Heather Duke, Jasmine Mathews as Heather McNamara, [65] Birgundi Baker as Lizzy, and Cameron Gellman as Kurt.With direction from Andy Fickman and electrifying choreography by Gary Lloyd, this is one class production you can't afford to skip.

However, Lehmann denied development of a sequel, saying, "Winona's been talking about this for years—she brings it up every once in a while and Dan Waters and I will joke about it, but as far as I know there's no script and no plans to do the sequel. Writing in April 1989 for The Washington Post, journalist Desson Thomson wrote that it "may be the nastiest, cruelest fun you can have without actually having to study law or gird leather products. D, Maddison Firth as Heather Chandler, Vivian Panka as Heather Duke, Teleri Hughes as Heather McNamara, Vicki Lee Taylor as Ms. But at school there was all this weird Machiavellian energy that was never in the movies about high school.Our site strives to collect all professionally filmed Broadway and West End theater productions that are available to stream online. I wasn’t consulted on the TV show because it dates back to a hilariously medieval TV contract I signed in the 80s. Waters intended the film to contrast the optimistic teen movies of the era, particularly those written by John Hughes, by presenting a cynical depiction of high school imbued with dark satire.